The assembling and/or welding of various workpieces is often a challenging task in the manufacturing industry. For example, in the automotive industry, sheet metal stampings must often be welded together in order to create a single assembled or preassembled part. Prior to welding the sheet metal stampings, the stampings must be positioned in a highly accurate and repetitive geometric position in order that the sheet metal stampings may be accurately welded into an assembled position. Failure to do so may lead to the improper sizing and positioning of the assembled workpiece relative to the remaining parts of the automobile. The positioning of the sheet metal stampings prior to welding is often referred to as the geometric positioning of the workpiece.
In order to maintain the geometric positioning of the workpiece, previous designs have utilized heavy, rigid, structural members that are supported and moved by manipulators, such as robotic arms. These structural members are typically fabricated from heavy-duty steel so as to ensure the integrity and positioning of the end effector tooling that is mounted thereon. Such end effector tooling may include various power clamps, power grippers, and/or pin locators to locate and secure the workpiece in a predetermined geometric position. The adjustability and/or flexibility of the positioning and movement of the end effector tooling has been limited in such previous designs, as the previous designs typically concentrate on the rigidity and accuracy of the end effector tooling. This is to ensure that if the end effector tooling were to come into contact with something other than the workpiece, the end effector tooling will not be compromised, but rather, the end effector tooling will maintain the geometric positioning necessary to weld and assemble accurate workpieces.
The disadvantage to such previous designs is that they are typically heavy and non-flexible in design. Thus, the manipulator or robotic arm must be large and powerful enough to support and move such heavy tooling. In addition, the lack of flexibility does not allow for a high degree of adjustability to the end effector tooling such that the end effector tooling may be adjusted for a variety of different workpieces. The inability of such designs to adapt to various workpiece designs requires that the end effector tooling be dedicated to the specific configuration of one particular workpiece. This requires that a multitude of tooling be purchased and provided thereby creating an undesirable inefficiency in the industry.
It would be desirable to provide lightweight, flexible tooling that provided for the accurate positioning and support of end effector tooling to ensure geometric positioning of a variety of workpieces during the machining and/or assembling of the workpiece.